Prepay meter campaign victory

4/02/2010

The National Housing Federation's campaign for fairer charging saves £150m for poorest energy customers.

The National Housing Federation, and its members, have won the high-profile campaign for an end to prepayment meter rip-off - with the announcement today by British Gas that it will no longer charge a premium to its gas prepay meter users. The announcement means that following the long-running campaign, the big energy firms will now charge the same rates to both prepay meter users and customers on quarterly bills.

The Federation estimates that the campaign has saved prepayment meter customers at least £150m since it began in 2007.

Over the last few years, all of the big energy firms, except for Scottish Power, have charged prepayment meter customers more for their gas and electricity than anyone else - even though they are from low income backgrounds.

Federation chief executive David Orr said: 'The efforts of the Federation, housing associations and residents for a fairer deal for prepayment meter customers have paid off.
'Today's news is an incredible testament to what can be achieved when we all pull together.'

Read the full story here

Back